After a night that saw all four road teams win playoff games last night, it’s only fitting that we’re talking about head shots once again. Everyone can thank Pittsburgh’s Chris Kunitz for that. That’s not all there is to discuss though because, hey, it’s the playoffs and there’s more to playoffs than head shots and suspension debates, right? RIGHT? All right then.

1. You’d think we would be able to escape the head shot discussions in the postseason with everyone being focused on winning the Stanley Cup. Instead, we’ve been treated to two instances of a player’s head being targeted on a hit thanks to Raffi Torres’ brutal hit on Brent Seabrook and now Chris Kunitz elbowing Simon Gagne with ill intent. I get that sometimes you have to play on the edge and that a lot of players are hoping for more respect between each other but it’s pretty clear it’s not going to happen.

Torres getting by without a suspension on a technicality of sorts on his play is bad enough, but don’t expect Kunitz to escape similarly. Kunitz’s hit evoking thoughts of Matt Cooke’s past transgressions is natural in this case especially with it involving the Penguins but Dan Bylsma has to be furious that his guys go out of their way to take such needlessly selfish actions on the ice when the team needs every guy possible to win games.

2. As for Steve Downie’s huge hit on Ben Lovejoy even in spite of Downie’s past it’s tougher for me to swallow that one as being a “terrible” hit. With Lovejoy himself saying after the game that he thought the hit was a good, hard hit that he’d expect to have happen means a lot, especially given the opposite tone that Gagne had in his words for Kunitz’s dirty elbow. Both guys will talk with the NHL about their hits but the gut feeling says that Kunitz gets at least one game and maybe two for his elbow while at worst Downie gets a game for charging Lovejoy if he gets anything at all. Spin away Wheel of Justice.

3. Nice of Boston to finally show up in their series and all it took was scoring the first goal (or in this case the first three goals) of the game against Montreal. With these two teams being very defense oriented getting that lead first is huge. During the regular season, Montreal was 32-6-6 when scoring first the 10th best record in the NHL while Boston was 30-6-6 good for 13th in the league. Boston being able to make Montreal battle back is key for them. If they can take Game 4 and even this series up, we’re in line for a raucous series where home ice means nothing. I think everyone aside from Boston and Montreal fans are rooting for as much mayhem as possible.

4. A lot of people will point to Brian Boucher’s play in goal and how solid he looked for good reason in the Flyers 4-2 win over Buffalo. 35 saves is nothing to sneeze at but let’s give some credit to the Flyers defense for finally playing a strong game in front of their goalie. They played tough and despite the number of shots given up and Boucher stood tall. Getting those kinds of efforts from both goalie and defense while Chris Pronger continues to sit out with a broken hand are inspiring for the team.

5. There are two series in the Western Conference that are at 3-0 and they feature a pair of teams that have been efficient and led their divisions all year beating up on teams that scrapped and fought to get into the playoffs until the final week (or day in Chicago’s case). It can’t be too surprising to see Chicago getting dominated by Vancouver and Phoenix is getting taken out easily as Ilya Bryzgalov looks worn out putting up with the Detroit attack.

The two early goals he allowed in the first period in their 4-2 loss to Detroit made it look like he wasn’t dialed in yet. The guys in front of him didn’t help but it’s possible Bryzgalov is worn down. Bryzgalov has been starting non-stop in goal since March 20 and hasn’t played in just two games since February 1 (28 games). Goalies are built for the long haul but just two games off in the final two months of the season takes its toll.

Nathan MacKinnon, Colorado Avalanche: MacKinnon’s MVP campaign got a serious boost on Sunday, as he picked up two goals and an assist in a win over the Detroit Red Wings. The Avs forward is now riding a 12-game point streak. He better start making room on a shelf for a Hart Trophy.

William Karlsson, Vegas Golden Knights: Karlsson continues to be one of the biggest surprises of the 2017-18 season. His natural hat trick against the Flames puts him at 39 goals on the season. Who would’ve thought that we’d be talking about him as a 40-goal scorer?

Nikita Kucherov, Tampa Bay Lightning: Even though MacKinnon is rolling right now, Kucherov won’t go away quietly in the race for the MVP crown. The Lightning forward picked up two goals in Sunday’s win over the Oilers. Kucherov has 36 goals and 93 points in 70 games this season.

Alex DeBrincat, Chicago Blackhawks: DeBrincat scored his third hat trick of the season in a losing effort. The rookie has 25 goals and 45 points in 73 games this season. He has a chance to score 30 this year.

Alex Pietrangelo and Vincent Dunn, St. Louis Blues: The Blues came away with a huge comeback win over the Chicago Blackhawks. Patrik Berglund scored the game-winner in overtime, but Pietrangelo and Dunn each had four points in the victory.

Patrik Laine, Winnipeg Jets: Laine has been a scoring machine of late. He found the back of the net twice in Sunday’s win over the Dallas Stars. He’s now scored 43 goals in 72 games this season. Laine’s picked up at least one point in 15 consecutive games.

The St. Louis Blues and Chicago Blackhawks have played games with more significance, but that didn’t take away from the excitement of St. Louis’ 5-4 win in overtime.

‘Hawks forward Alex DeBrincat opened the game with two first-period goals before the Blues managed to tie the game in the second frame thanks to a pair of power-play tallies by Alexander Steen and Vincent Dunn, who also assisted on Steen’s marker.

The Blues thought they went ahead late in the second, but this goal was called back:

Chicago went up 3-2 heading into the second intermission after David Kampf put them back ahead.

Dunn collected his third point of the night when Vladimir Sobotka scored the equalizer at the 15:24 mark of the third period, but again, DeBrincat scored just over one minute later.

Alex Pietrangelo, who assisted on St. Louis’ first two goals, managed to tie the game with 18:38 remaining in the third period to force overtime. Dunn registered an assist on the game-tying marker to give him four points on the night.

Pietrangelo then helped set up Patrik Berglund‘s game, so he also finished the game with four points when it was all said and done.

Here’s the OT winner:

Despite being sellers at the deadline, the Blues now find themselves just one point behind Anaheim for the final Wild Card spot in the Western Conference. St. Louis has four more regulation/overtime wins than the Ducks, which could be key down the stretch.

After missing five games with a lower-body injury, Ben Bishop made his return to the Stars lineup on Friday night against Ottawa. Unfortunately for Bishop, he seems to have run into some more injury trouble tonight.

The veteran netminder was hurt after he made a fantastic glove save on Jets forward Bryan Little on Sunday night. The Stars Twitter account already confirmed that he suffered a lower-body injury and that he wouldn’t be returning to the game.

The Boston Bruins have a plethora of young players coming through the pipeline, including Ryan Donato who they signed to a two-year, entry-level contract on Sunday night.

The Bruins drafted Donato in the second round of the 2014 NHL Entry Draft. The 21-year-old spent each of the last two seasons at Harvard. In 2017-18, he finished the year with 26 goals and 17 assists in 29 games with the Crimson.

Donato also represented the United States at this 2018 Olympic Games, where he had had five goals (tied for the tournament lead) in five games.

The team has already announced that he’ll join them right away. He’s eligible to suit up in tomorrow’s game.

“It came together in pretty short order,” GM Don Sweeney said, per the Bruins’ Twitter account. “We had always been committed to providing the opportunity to Ryan if and when he decided to leave school…I think it was an opportunity on both sides to explore with Ryan and see where he’s at.

“He’s a kid that’s got a confidence about himself, a talent level, and he’s got some details he’s gonna have to work on – all young players do. But he’s a player that has hard skill. We’re looking forward to having him…get immersed and get a taste.”